Portesham Primary school’s school council recently handed over a cheque for a staggering £1200 to trustees Jane Cherry and Rosy Lloyd from the charity Positive Steps. Through the school council co-ordinator Laura Evans, the children were made aware of a school in the village of Nguluwe, Malawi where the children there were being taught under a fig tree.

After realising that the cost of building a school for these children would be less than £2000, the school council set to work to raise the money for the school to be built and the Portesham and Nguluwe Twinning Project was born.

The funds will be used to build a community centre; a brick building primarily for the purpose of a school because as well as having no building, the children currently have no running water, no sanitation, no desks or chairs and very limited educational resources. Jane Cherry left for Malawi on Saturday, June 11 taking video footage of the children of Portesham with her to show the pupils of Nguluwe School. She will return with photos of the progress of the building in September. The Portesham school council has managed to raise the money by planning, organising and holding various events over the academic year including “Has Portesham Got Talent?”, cake sales, car washes and Christmas Bingo. This has been a fantastic opportunity for the children to learn how things that we take for granted can have such a positive impact on other children’s lives. Well done and congratulations to them for all their hard work.

For more information go to www.positivestepscharity.wordpress.com.

AT the end of last term, Mrs Evans and the school council hosted “Has Portesham Got Talent?” Key Stage 2 children took to the stage to perform an array of musical talents. There was also a special “Abbaesque” staff performance from “Bjorn” Brown, “Agnetha” Prior and “Anni-Frid” Evans!! The evening raised a total of £190 which was included in the donation to the Portesham and Nguluwe Twinning Project. POPS (Parents of Portesham School) Summer Fayre will be held on Saturday, July 2 from 11am to 2pm at the school. There will be games, refreshments, bouncy castle, crafts, face painting and much more! There will also be some fantastic lots to bid for on the Bidding Wall, so please come along.

ALSO on Saturday, July 2 the Garden club will be hosting the village café from 10am to 12 noon at Portesham village hall. All the usual goodies on offer!

THE next Chesil Bank Parish Council meeting will take place at Portesham village hall on Monday, 4 July, 7pm.

A REMINDER that the next meeting of Abbotsbury and Portesham RBL will be at Portesham Methodist hall on Thursday, 30 June 7.30 pm when local author Kay Townsend will talk about “Wartime on the Fairgrounds”.

Signed copies of Kay’s recent book will be available.

ALSO there will be a bring and share lunch at the rectory following the 1030 patronal service at St Peter’s on Sunday, 26 June. All welcome.